I Want to be Normal
by VirginAuthor
Summary: AU Yumi is the new girl at Kadic.  As she meets new friends, they begin to realize that there is something different about this girl.  Will they discover the truth before it is too late?
1. A New Start

**A New Start**

_Finally, it is finally happening. _The young girl smiled brightly at the man behind the desk as he and her parents talked.

"You can understand why we are asking you to use the utmost discretion in this case. This is very important to our daughter, but as the head master, we felt you needed to understand the situation." Her father was behind her, a hand on her shoulder and a hand on the shoulder of her younger sister.

Mr. Delmas sat behind his desk. He peered at her from behind his glasses and smiled. "Of course I understand. It should not be a problem. Now as far as housing arrangements, your eldest daughter is…."

"16" I answered. "And my sister is 13." I was so excited to be here that I could barely contain myself. They were going to let me do this. For once I was going to be free, if only for a short time. I looked over at my sister. She smiled at me with the same enthusiasm.

It always amazed me how alike we looked. It was like looking in the mirror. She may have been three years younger than I was, but she looked like my twin. We had that special connection that some siblings shared. Considering everything we had gone through together, it was no wonder. She needed this as much as I did. I turned from my sister and focused again on the conversation.

"Now I understand that your eldest daughter could use some extra privacy due to the circumstances. There are a few single rooms up in the dorms. We could also place your daughters together, but we do try to keep them separated. This allows for time apart and allows for them to develop their own friendships. We are happy to do what we can to make sure you are both comfortable."

This last comment was directed to my sister and me. I looked at her and we both nodded. We had decided on this already. My sister answered for the two of us. "I think we want our own rooms. I know I want a roommate so I can meet some new friends my own age."

"And I would like the privacy of my own room." I finished. After so many years without any privacy at all, this would be a treat.

"Well if you don't have any other questions…." Mr. Delmas paused. When no questions came, he stood up, "…Then I guess we should begin our tour. It will take a little time for the paperwork to be completed and to arrange for rooms. If you will follow me, I will show you around."

I stood up quickly. This was it, my first steps into freedom. Hiroko took my hand and we walked out of the office together, into the start of a new life.


	2. A Trial Run

**A Trial Run**

Mr. Delmas took us all around campus. There were trees and grass and best of all, students; People my own age that didn't look at me like I was different. There were no looks of pity, no segregation. I took a deep breath of air. It felt so good to feel my lungs expand. I put a hand to my chest and felt that which made me different. For once, that little piece that made me different was hidden. No one here knew anything about it. My mom caught me touching my chest and her expression immediately changed. She went from relaxed to worried in a matter of moments.

"Are you OK, does anything hurt?" She asked. Realizing that this gesture usually preceded pain and a trip, I dropped my hand.

"No, I'm fine." I smiled at her and looked her right in the eye. She stared at me for a few seconds, trying to decide if I was lying or not. Of my parents, my mom had been the most difficult to convince. She still wanted us at home. She was always afraid that something would go wrong if she was not there. It had taken months to show her that we would be OK and that Hiroko and I needed to be on our own. We needed to know we would be OK without her.

The tour continued a while longer. I was starting to get tired. I was still not used to a lot of movement and I was hoping a break would come shortly. I did not want to complain, knowing Mom would start to freak out. If she did, we could kiss this chance at freedom goodbye. Right then my watch started to beep. I turned it off and reached into my purse. I pulled out a small box and opened the lid. Inside were a handful of pills. Hiroko handed me her water bottle and down went the pills. I looked at my parents.

"See, no sweat." I smiled. Mom was convinced I would forget my pills, or my exercises, or my diary. "I can do this mom." My mom looked at me and her face softened.

"I know you can sweetheart. I am just so used to doing it for you." She placed a hand on my shoulder as Mr. Delmas's cell phone rang. We were near a bench so I took the opportunity to sit down. Hiroko sat next to me. There were times I swear she could read my mind. She knew that mom would look at me sitting and think something was wrong. With both of us sitting and talking, we were just sisters.

I started into those dark eyes, so like my own. She smiled and started to sign to me. This was something we started in our earlier years. There had been times I could not talk, so we learned sign language together. That way, we could communicate without voices.

We started to "talk" about the tour and about the school. I could tell she was excited to get our rooms and get away from our parents. It is nothing against them, but we were ready to start our new adventure.

When Mr. Delmas was finished with his phone call he looked at my parents. "The paperwork is all ready. If you would follow me to my office, we can get everything signed and finalized. I think your daughters will be just fine out here. They can go to the cafeteria for some lunch and we can meet them at their rooms in a little while."

Mom looked apprehensive. She wasn't ready to let us go just yet. Hiroko looked up. "Think of it a as short trial run." Mom laughed at that.

"Alright, but do you think you can find the dorms?"

"That won't be a problem," Mr. Delmas said, "Let me see." He looked up at the various students around the commons ground. He spotted a young girl coming towards us clutching her books to her chest. "Ms. Hopper." He called. The young girl stopped. She was about my age with bright pink hair that reminded me of bubblegum. She had an infectious smile. I couldn't help but smile back at her. She looked to the headmaster.

"Yes sir?"

"Would you be so kind as to show our new students to the cafeteria?" Mr. Delmas pulled two green tickets out of his pocket. He turned to my sister and me. "Here are your temporary tickets until we get you a student card. We shouldn't be long. When you are finished, Ms. Hopper can show you to the dorms. We will meet you all in half an hour."

Mr. Delmas gestured to my parents to follow him. I looked to the girl we were left with. She smiled. There was no pity in her gaze, no questions. I smiled back. I knew this was the right thing, not telling anyone. No matter who it was, when they knew, they treated me differently. They looked at me differently. Here, it was going to change. I was going to be normal. I looked down. The girl had extended a hand,

"Hi, I'm Aelita Hopper. It's nice to meet you."

My sister was the first to shake her hand and return the greeting. "Hi, Aelita. My name is Hiroko Ishiyama, and this is my sister, Yumiko."

I turned to Aelita and shook her hand, "Yeah but I prefer Yumi. It's nice to meet you. I like your hair."

Aelita laughed. "Well I'm not hard to spot in the crowd. Let's go, I'm hungry. I can introduce to a few of my friends while we're at it."

I followed her to the cafeteria. It was turning out to be a glorious day. I went from having no friends to at least one and maybe more. I took another deep breathe. The sun was shining, and air was clean. It was a new beginning.


	3. Friends

**Friends**

Aelita led the two girls to the cafeteria. As she stood in line she looked back and asked, "So are you two twins?" It seemed like such a stupid question. Anyone looking at them could see how similar they were. Of course Yumi looked thinner and paler than her sister. She looked like someone who just didn't get outside much. In fact she looked tired. Despite that, Aelita could see her smile and laugh at the question.

"You know, we always get that question."

"But, no, we aren't twins. In fact I'm 3 years younger than Yumi."

Aelita stared in disbelief as she handed over her meal card. "You're kidding! Wow, I would have never guessed." She said with a smile. "So how old are you Yumi?" She was looking at the two of them, expecting them to both answer. It seemed that they could finish each others thoughts.

"16."

"Hey, so am I. That means we could have some classes together. It was starting to get boring around here so maybe you can liven things up."

Aelita and the girls laughed as she led them to a table. Seated around the table was a dark skinned girl talking animatedly to a boy with blond hair. As they got closer, Yumi saw that this boy had a purple stripe in his hair. Yumi sat next to Aelita, "I see you're not the only one with hair to remember." Aelita laughed as the purple streaked boy turned to her and smiled.

"What can I say, I make an impression. I'm Odd."

"You can say that again" said Hiroko. With that, the whole table started to laugh.

"No, Odd's my name, Odd Della Robbia. It's nice to meet you. This is my girlfriend Samantha Knight." Odd pointed to the dark skinned girl who waved.

"Just call me Sam."

Odd continued to point out people at the table. Next to Aelita was another blond haired boy wearing glasses. He pushed them up as Odd introduced him as Einstein. "Actually my name is Jeremie." Aelita leaned over and whispered to Yumi, "That's my boyfriend. And Sam is my roommate."

The final person at the table had messy brown hair and a quiet smile. He leaned over to shake hands with the sisters. "And I'm blabbermouth's roommate Ulrich." Yumi smiled and introduced herself and Hiroko.

The group began to talk and eat. There wasn't a moment when someone wasn't laughing. Nicknames, jokes, and stories flew around the table. All was going fine until Odd aimed a kick at Aelita and missed.

"OW!" shouted Yumi. She leaned forward rubbing her shin. "Oh man, Are you OK? I didn't mean to get you." Odd quickly apologized, but Yumi was looking at Hiroko. She was pale as she looked to Yumi. Yumi pulled up her pant leg and could see a bruise starting to form. _Damn, well thank goodness I wore pants. Mom can't see it._ She looked up to Hiroko.

"I'm fine." She quickly looked away so Hiroko wouldn't question her further. She looked at Odd. "It's OK. If you didn't kick like a girl I'd be worried." At that everyone started laughing again, but as Yumi looked up, Hiroko's frown did not fade.


	4. All Mine

**All Mine**

Finally, the moment she had been waiting for. Yumi took a deep breath and stepped into her room. She closed her eyes and just ….. breathed. Her parents had long since left. Hiroko was down in her room meeting new people. Everyone had left her alone.

As she sat there Yumi opened her ears. To her delight, there was no one calling her name, sitting beside her, helping her to do every little thing. There were no beeps or buzzes or phones ringing. It was peaceful and silent.

Yumi didn't know how long she sat there, but it must have been awhile. She was shaken out of her thoughts by the knock on her door.

She sighed, knowing this was coming. Yumi opened the door to reveal Hiroko.

"Let me see." Hiroko demanded.

"It's not that bad Koko. Really, just a little bruise…" but after a death glare from her sister, Yumi rolled her eyes and lifted her pant leg. There was an angry green and purple bruise where Odd had kicked her.

Yumi watched Hiroko's face fall. She looked at Yumi with a worried expression. "That looks bad. Maybe we should call Mom and Dad. Maybe this wasn't a good idea."

"NO!" shouted Yumi. Seeing the startled look on her sister's face, she tried again. "No." she said softer, "We came to be on our own. I need this Hiroko. YOU need this. Mom and Dad will just freak out and drag us home. I can't, I won't go back after just one day. Besides, I feel fine."

"But this is how it started, Mimi. And you are tired. How can you say you are fine!" demanded Hiroko.

"This is the best I have felt in years Koko. I promise." Yumi looked into worried eyes and sighed again. "You know me better than anyone. You would know if I wasn't feeling well. They said this might happen. It doesn't mean anything is wrong." The words were starting to take effect, but Hiroko still looked with worried eyes.

"But…."

"I promise, if anything else shows up unexpectedly, you will know. I will show you any new bruise, I will go out and get sun. You'll see, I will be good as new. Then I can go back to annoying you like all big sisters. You will be so sick of me you won't know what to do. Now go and hang out with your new roommate. I'll see you at dinner."

Yumi hugged Hiroko, but she didn't let go. "Promise me." She whispered.

"I promise…." Yumi smiled down at her sister, "Now, GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Yumi playfully pushed her laughing sister out of the room and closed the door. She smiled to herself.

Yumi had just turned around when another knock was heard.

"Hiroko, I swear, I'm fine." She flung open the door but found Aelita instead of her sister.

"Oh, sorry. I thought my sister was back."

"No problem. You have a nice room." Aelita looked around the room. It was bright, and Yumi had the window open allowing for a cool breeze. She looked at the trunks and things waiting to be put away. On the desk was a laptop computer, pencils, and paper for letters. Next to that was a family picture. Nothing else had made it to the walls, but Aelita could see rolled up posters and magazines in a pile.

"It must be nice to have your own room."

Yumi smiled, "Yeah, after sharing for the last 13 years, it is pretty nice."

"Well if you need help unpacking, I will be happy to help."

"That's OK," she said quickly, "I can do it." With that Yumi stepped between Aelita and a trunk she was looking at.

Aelita looked at Yumi and to the trunk. _I wonder what's in there…._ She shrugged. "OK. Well we are going to dinner. Want to join us?"

"You bet!." Yumi grabbed a jacket and headed out the door with Aelita.


	5. Meeting New People

The new friends all gathered at a table and Yumi could not remember a more enjoyable dinner. Odd was obviously a ham and loved to laugh. There was not a moment when he wasn't trying to make a joke or eating, mostly eating. If you didn't guard your plate, you were likely to lose your food to the human waste bin that was Odd.

Yumi looked at Odd with a look of awe and disgust on her face, "Where does it all go? I mean you must not even taste the food going down."

Odd winked at her, "I'm just a growing boy and I need my food. Besides, you are barely touching your food and I would hate to see it go to waste. Do you want you fries?"

Yumi shook her head as Odd reached to grab the food. Samantha rolled her eyes. "You should see him when we go out. We have to go to an all you can eat place. If we don't we couldn't afford to go out at all."

"It's not fair," sighed Aelita, "He can eat everything and look at the size of him. If we tried to eat half of when he eats…..well best not to picture that."

"If you think this is bad, you should hear him snore. I have to wear earplugs just to get a decent night's sleep." Ulrich punched Odd lightly in the arm. Yumi could feel herself relax. The group spent the entire meal joking and talking. She learned that Sam, Odd, and Aelita were all into music and they would play around with DJ equipment whenever they had the chance.

Jeremy was the brains of the group, though Aelita wasn't far behind. He would laugh and joke with the others, but in between jokes, he would go back to a more serious expression. You could almost see his wheels turning. He and Aelita would share a quick look and every once in awhile one would blush. It made Yumi smile, and yet it also made her realize that they had something she would never have.

The same went for Sam and Odd, though there was no blushing between these two. They were the playful couple, always teasing and stealing a quick kiss when they thought no one was looking. The two couples were so cute, it was almost revolting.

And then there was Ulrich. He was quiet. He joined the fun, but he was content to sit back and watch the others more often than not. Yumi did notice that Odd and Ulrich did like to tease each other constantly. It was almost like watching her brother and sister tease each other. That was something they never did with her. They didn't tease her because her parents wouldn't allow it. It was something Yumi had felt deprived of growing up. They were never comfortable enough to make a joke about her, and as she sat at the table, she realized that was why she was so comfortable here. No one knew about her past, so they wouldn't feel like they had to walk on eggshells around her. She smiled and joined the conversation.

She looked up and saw her sister sitting at a table across the way. Hiroko was sitting with three girls and two boys and seemed to be enjoying herself immensely. Yumi smiled again. Koko deserved it. As she watched, Hiroko caught her eye and started to sign to her sister.

'You sure you're OK?"

'Fine. Who's the boy you're drooling over?'

'I am not drooling, he just happens to be the friend of my roommate. And he is very nice.' Yumi swore she could see her sister blush from across the room.

'Fine, but I want details later. Which one is your roommate?'

Koko pointed to a girl with blond hair sitting at the table. 'This is MaryAnn.'

Yumi looked at the girl and liked her already. She was smiling and laughing and reminded her a little bit of Aelita.

'Cool. Talk to you later.'

Yumi turned back around to see that all conversation had stopped at her table. Her new friends were looking at her. Odd was the first to speak, "What was that?"

Yumi looked at the in surprise. It hadn't even occurred to her that using sign language was unusual in school. It had been a form of communication for her and Hiroko for such a long time, that it was second nature. "It's just sign language."

"Yeah, but you're so fast. That was cool."

Yumi sighed in relief. They didn't think her strange. She wasn't about to lose her friends in the first day. She laughed, "Well Hiroko and I have been using it as a way to talk without our parents knowing what we were saying."

With that the group moved on to a discussion about parents and how they liked to listen in on conversations. They were just finishing dinner when Odd looked up and nudged Ulrich.

"Don't look now, but your fan club is coming down the drive."

Ulrich rolled his eyes and slouched in his seat. "Great" he said as her crossed his arms, "What does she want?"

Yumi looked up to see a girl about her age walking towards the table. She had dark hair and eyes and see was heading straight for Ulrich. For some reason, it annoyed Yumi. This girl was going to ruin a perfect dinner, she just knew it.

The girl stopped in front of Ulrich. "Ulrich dear, I have a favor to ask."

"What do you want Sissi? If it involves me up in your room, you can forget it."

"Well since you mention it, I was going to see if you would help me with the science homework. I don't understand anything from that class."

Odd piped up, "And how is that different than every other class?" The group giggled.

Sissi shot Odd a look and turned back to Ulrich. "I thought that after we were finished we could go to the movies. Daddy would let us. I've already asked him."

Ulrich looked up at Sissi. "They you better take one of your minions, because I have plans."

"And what plans are those?"

"Anything that doesn't involve you."

Sissi looked one more time, "You know, if you weren't with your friend, you would go with me in a heartbeat." And with that she turned on her heel and as she started to leave, she slipped and landed on the floor with a thud. The table started roaring with laughter. Sissi looked at them with death glares as she got up and headed out the door.

"Why me?" Ulrich moaned as they headed out the door. Even with Sissi, it had been a pretty good day.


End file.
